Upgrading VMware Fusion 1.1.3 to version 2.0.1: Advice needed

[Kathryn_Talaric]

I am running Fusion 1.1.3 on a Mac OS 10.5.6, Windows XP.

I have not yet installed Windows SP3 nor have I yet upgraded my VMware Fusion. I downloaded the "Updating an Older Virtual Machine to Fusion 2" document. I have a couple of questions about how to proceed.

1) Should I first install SP3, before doing the Fusion upgrade? Have fellow Fusion users found it to be stable, reliable (or as reliable as any Windows product is? !!).

2) Are there any glaring problems I should be on the lookout for as I install the upgrade of Fusion? I don't do gaming, but mostly documents (with my beloved WordPerfect), spreadsheets, and web page development (including

Adobe Photoshop).

3) The document I downloaded is for Fusion 2.0. Do these instructions apply to the latest version released?

Any advice for this novice would be most appreciated!

Kathryn Talarico

[gbullman]

From my experience;

1) Should I first install SP3, before doing the Fusion upgrade? Have fellow Fusion users found it to be stable, reliable (or as reliable as any Windows product is? !!).

Should not make any difference. I updated to SP3 right after it became available and did not have any issues with the subsequent Fusion updates. I upgraded to Fusion 2.0 from 1.1.3 in September, 2.0.1 shortly after it came out, and 2.0.2 shortly after it came out. If memory serves me correctly SP3 was out before Fusion 2.0, but don't remember for sure.

2) Are there any glaring problems I should be on the lookout for as I install the upgrade of Fusion? I don't do gaming, but mostly documents (with my beloved WordPerfect), spreadsheets, and web page development (including Adobe Photoshop).

Just make sure to follow the directions in the document you referenced. Absolutely make sure you back up your VM in its' current state before starting the upgrade (in my opinion, best approach is to shut down the VM then copy the .vmwarevm bundle to another drive for safe keeping). I did not use snapshots with 1.1.3, nor do I use them in 2.0.x so if you are using them follow the directions carefully if there are any comments about snapshots. You might find that getting VMware Tools to upgrade correctly is a bit challenging, just don't panic if have trouble initially. Basically the VM & Windows are trying to adapt to the new virtual hardware that Fusion is providing while VMware Tools is trying to install the updated drivers, just hang tight until you the VMware Tools install asks you to restart. If I remember correctly you do not want to click next on any of the hardware wizards that come up, just leave them alone. As far as windows applications, the upgrade to 2.0, or subsequent upgrades have not given me any problems (I run mostly office, but also a few more challenging things like SQL Server, IIS, DB clients and stuff like that).

3) The document I downloaded is for Fusion 2.0. Do these instructions apply to the latest version released?

If you're referring to the upgrade guide linked to by the 2.0.2 announcement it should still be accurrate. You might want to take a quick look through the other documents at the top of the forum to see if there is any other 2.0.1, or 2.0.2 references, but I do not explicitly remember any. I followed these steps and other than the sort of unsettled behavior while VMware Tools and Windows drivers are getting themselves settled it went pretty well. Note that even if your Tools update fails the Virtual Machine should still be fine, just remember you have to Cmd+Ctrl to release the mouse from the VM and a few other things won't work quite right until Tools is properly installed.

Good luck. Only other thing to point out. If you haven't installed the Apple Security Update 2009-001 yet, hold off on doing so (at least that is my opinion). For whatever reason it breaks Fusion 2.0 shared printing which depending on your needs is a really handy feature. I know VMware is looking into it (hopefully with Apple) and I'm hoping that wil be fixed soon. If you have already installed that security update then read the work around thread that is linked to at the top of the forum and set up your printing as suggested for now.

[WoodyZ]

To add to what's already been said I would also read the release notes for the Fusion 2.x releases so you have a better understanding of the known issues. Have a look at: VMware Fusion Documentation

Also I have to in general absolutely disagree with not applying the Mac OS X Security Update 2009-001 if you haven't yet. It is very important to always maintain Security Updates as long as there is a viable work-a-round for any issue that may occur as a result of applying such updates and there are several work-a-rounds listed in and I would strongly advise one to keep their OS up to date with Security Updates.

[gbullman]

WoodyZ, I read through the workaround thread again and have decided to backup cupsd, apply the Security Update and then revert the cupsd binary as suggested by mudaltsov. I have to agree that it is better to keep Security up to date, but frankly I really depend on the printer sharing feature because of my use of VPNs within the Virtual Machines and that is why I've been holding off on that udpate. Initially I was hoping for a fix to be available quickly, but now it is apparent that we'll have to wait this one out.

[Kathryn_Talaric]

Thank you so much for your helpful and clear answers. I only share my printer on my Mac with my VMware virtual machine, so I hope I won't have too many problems. I

lived through "printer installation hell" when I first got Fusion since it didn't want to recognize what was then my KODAK AIO printer. The great folks at VMware finally figured out

that there was a problem with VMware and they fixed it! This is one of the many reasons why I'm a VMware Fusion fan.

Kathryn

[WoodyZ]

WoodyZ, I read through the workaround thread again and have decided to backup cupsd, apply the Security Update and then revert the cupsd binary as suggested by mudaltsov. I have to agree that it is better to keep Security up to date, but frankly I really depend on the printer sharing feature because of my use of VPNs within the Virtual Machines and that is why I've been holding off on that udpate.

I understand that with a VPN that is maintaining strict end point to end point security why you would choose to originally not apply the Security Update and even though by applying the cupsd binary work-a-round that leaves a hole in wall (so to speak) it a much smaller hole then not applying the Security Update and is a viable work-a-round for your particular case use scenario. However while the ThinPrint feature included in VMware Tools is nice for the non VPN scenarios it is a feature that I would not use to begin with as it's just one of the many features that slows down booting into and shutting down Windows and just isn't necessary in you know how to install a printer to begin with.

Initially I was hoping for a fix to be available quickly, but now it is apparent that we'll have to wait this one out.

Seeing that it took 3 months to go from 2.0.1 to 2.0.2 and there are still things that didn't get fixed I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a fix from VMware. Frankly the entire Fusion 2.x experience has been very disappointing and I've downloaded Parallels 4.0.3810.351321 and am going to put it through the paces and see about switching to Parallels on the Mac however I'll keep VMware Workstation for my Windows and Linux systems.

[yaletown]

I am having issues with the upgrade and unfortunately did not back up my currently VM state:( Is there any way to retrieve my old state back? I've tried tot use the restore snapshot and it doesn't seem to be working. Anything I can do or is my data lost?

[WoodyZ]

Anything I can do or is my data lost?

That all depends on what you did with the Snapshot. If you choose to Restore Snapshot you get a message... "You are about to restore the "Name_of_Snapshot" snapshot. Do you want to save your current changes to a new snapshot before restoring?" and if you selected "Don't Save" then if you don't have a backup of the Virtual Machine before you upgraded or separate User Data Backups saved outside of the Virtual Machine (which one should also be doing) then your data is gone.

[yaletown]

I decided to revert back to Version 1 and still get the same error (parent disk/child disk error). I looked in my Windows XP package contents and found an old Snap shot from january 2009. Windows XO Home Eiditon - Snapshot2.vmem.

Is there any way I can restore this snapshot to my virtual machine, or create a new virtual machine with this snapshot?

[gbullman]

WoodyZ, should probably post this in the thread about the Security Update 2009-001 ThinPrint issues as well. I just followed mudaltsov's work around if you have not applied the security patch yet, backing up cupsd before applying the updates. I brought my Mac totally up to date including the Security Patch, reverted to the 10.5.6 version of cupsd and my shared printing is working fine. Now I'll just keep an eye for something from Apple or VMware to fix this then I can get rid of my extra copies of cupsd.

[WoodyZ]

WoodyZ, should probably post this in the thread about the Security Update 2009-001 ThinPrint issues as well.

gbullman not sure of exactly what you're referring to post but if it's that the already know work-a-round of replacing the cupsd binary works, well... it's already know to work and is already posted in the Security Update 2009-001 thread.

[success1]

I, too had the same problem and realize now that my snapshot is 4 weeks old. I am needing to get to my recently uploaded software to run a Nortel Phone system. I could recreate with some real effort, but do not prefer to. That is my main issue and I obviously was shocked that my old VM did not carry over all my old Windows XP files to the new one it named Windows XP Professional "2". Only a few appeared. Please advise if I can get back there any other way than the old Snapshot. If I did use snapshot, then let me know how could it be done.

[WoodyZ]

I looked in my Windows XP package contents and found an old Snap shot from january 2009. Windows XO Home Eiditon - Snapshot2.vmem.

That file is not a Snapshot Virtual Hard Drive as is doesn't have the .vmdk extension. The .vmem extension is just what is in memory when the Virtual Machine is running and when suspended and by itself is almost worthless if it is orphaned.

Is there any way I can restore this snapshot to my virtual machine, or create a new virtual machine with this snapshot?

As you now know what this is (the .vmem file) the bottom line is it takes a fair amount of information to determine what you can and can't do from a recovery perspective and that information hasn't been provided yet because you don't know what's needed and no one has told you what's needed. Although even with the information it is generally difficult at best to resolve this type of issue via the forum/email and I don't have the time to help right now so I'm not going to ask for the additional information however hopefully someone else can help you with this.